J R Hedrick

Dire Stakes J R Hedrick

Jeremiah Stakes did the best he could with what he had. It wasn't easy raising his little girl, Cheyenne, by himself but they were happy. She was his world, his heart and his reason for living. When he awoke that morning with the sky black and grey, he knew something wasn't right. The sound of Cheyenne's door squeaking down the hall cut through the air. Jeremiah's head snapped left to look over his shoulder, he ran out of the bathroom and looked down the hall. It was just in time to see the back end, legs and feet of something crawling on the ceiling and through Cheyenne's bedroom door. One step into his little girl's room and there it was. Coming down the wall beside the bed, onto all fours and into a crouching position. Glowing red eyes appeared as the figure raised its head and looked right through him as if he wasn't even there. The creature hunched over Cheyenne and snatched her up viciously. Cheyenne screamed at the top of her lungs, reached toward Jeremiah and the last thing he heard was his little girl crying out for him in terror. "Daddy! Daddy!" In the blink of an eye they were gone. Vanished into thin air like smoke through a keyhole.